NCADI: Making the Link Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs Pregnancy and Parenthood

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs & Pregnancy and Parenthood
Source: National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information

"Stop the individual chain reaction before it starts. Help chemically dependent women…not replicate the error, not perpetuate a syndrome which they themselves may suffer." Michael Dorris, author of The Broken Cord , in congressional testimony on fetal alcohol syndrome (March 5, 1992).

The use of alcohol, tobacco, and/or other drugs (ATOD) during pregnancy continues to be a leading preventable cause of mental, physical, and psychological impairments and problems in infants and children. According to a recent National Institute on Drug Abuse study on estimated use of selected substances during pregnancy, 5.5 percent of the women surveyed reported using illicit drugs while they were pregnant. Additionally, 18.8 percent reported using alcohol, and 20.4 percent reported using tobacco.[1] The cost of ATOD use during pregnancy is high to society in both human and economic terms. Prevention, including education, can help alleviate those costs. Heavy alcohol consumption by a pregnant woman can result in her child being born with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), the leading known environmental cause of mental retardation in the Western World.[2] According to research estimates, 1 – 3 of every 1,000 babies are born with FAS.[3] There is no known safe level of alcohol consumption for a pregnant woman.[4] Pregnant women who consume between one and two drinks per day are twice as likely as nondrinkers to have low birthweight babies and are at increased risk for miscarrying during the second trimester of pregnancy.[5] Additionally, studies suggest that binge-like drinking, [5] or more drinks in a short amount of time, may be more harmful to the fetus than exposure to the same or larger amounts of alcohol spread out more evenly over time.[6] Pregnant women who use drugs such as heroin, methadone, amphetamines, PCP, marijuana, crack, or cocaine can give birth to addicted babies who undergo withdrawal, known as neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). Signs of NAS include increased sensitivity to noise, irritability, poor coordination, tremors, and feeding problems. [7] Numerous studies suggest that infants of smoking mothers are at higher risk of dying of sudden infant death syndrome.[8] Pregnant women who smoke are more likely than nonsmokers to have low birthweight babies and babies who are at risk for developmental delays. Maternal smoking is a contributing factor in 14 percent of premature deliveries in the United States. Additionally, there is a direct correlation between the amount of smoking during pregnancy and the frequency of spontaneous abortion and fetal death.[9] Alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin consumed by a nursing mother are passed on to her baby through breast milk. Heavy drinking by the mother also can decrease her milk supply.[10] Adverse effects of secondhand smoke on children include: respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia, increased prevalence of fluid in the middle ear, reduced lung function, increased frequency and severity of symptoms in asthmatic children, and increased risk for asthma in children with no previous symptoms.[11] Alcohol and other drug use may interfere with a parent’s caregiver role. A report by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect states that 50 to 80 percent of all child abuse and neglect cases substantiated by child protective services involve some degree of alcohol and other drug use by the child’s parents.[12] Parents who abuse alcohol and illicit drugs face risks of losing custody of their children. Pregnant women who continue to take drugs against medical advice face increased risks of losing custody of their babies once they are born. In some States, they also risk criminal prosecution.[13] More than 70 percent of AIDS cases among women are drug related, either through shared infected intravenous drug needles or through sexual contact with men who became infected when they injected drugs. Women who use intravenous drugs risk not only acquiring the HIV virus themselves but also the double jeopardy of passing the virus and the drug to their unborn babies. [14] Additionally, HIV-positive women can pass the virus on to their babies through breast milk.

For more information on the correlation between substance abuse and pregnancy and parenting, contact the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) at 1-800-729-6686.

All statistics cited in this Making the Link fact sheet come from the following sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Summary Tables: Annualized Estimates from the National Pregnancy and Health Survey, Sept. 12, 1994, Table 1. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Eighth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health From the Secretary of Health and Human Services, September 1993, p. 221. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, reprinted 1994, p. 18, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Alert, #13,July 1991, p.2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Alcohol Alert, #13, July 1991, p.2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, reprinted 1994, p. 16. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Eighth Special Report to the U.S. Congress on Alcohol and Health From the Secretary of Health and Human Services, September 1993, p. 210. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Drug Abuse and Pregnancy, Capsule #33, June 1989, p. 3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, The Report of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1993, p. 253. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, reprinted 1994, pp. 22-24. Ibid., p. 19, 23, 29. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, The Report of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1993, p. 283, and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, reprinted 1994, p. 24. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, Protecting Children in Substance Abusing Families, 1994. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs May Harm the Unborn, reprinted 1994, p. 57. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 44, No. 5, Feb. 10, 1995.